


Just Can't Get Enough

by postboxinheaven



Series: Unexpected [2]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff, High School, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-22
Updated: 2018-03-22
Packaged: 2019-04-06 10:43:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14055219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/postboxinheaven/pseuds/postboxinheaven
Summary: Harboring a giant crush for Minseok tends to make his life significantly more complicated, but Jongdae learns to deal with it. That is, until he figures out that he might not need to after all.





	Just Can't Get Enough

**Author's Note:**

> There might be some small discrepancies between the Hunhan arc and the Xiuchen arc because I wrote them really far a part (an entire year) and I couldn’t remember everything completely. Hunhan was fun to write bc characters get so much fun to write when they become side characters. Sorry for the weird/abrupt ending.
> 
> I have really lengthy character backgrounds here for those of you who are interested in looking at them. There’s a lot more about the side characters here for you to look at. I had all of it written out when I started writing the Hunhan part in like March of 2014. I’m not planning on writing anything in this AU ever again, but who knows what’s going to end up happening.

The first thing that comes to mind as Jongdae steps out of his brand-new-used car is that it’s too damn cold. There are many pieces of evidence that support this thought. For example, he is currently stuck inside his car because the door is frozen shut. Also, for the first time this season he is sporting his giant, puffy, bright yellow (and incredibly unflattering) jacket. He can’t feel his fingers and considers it a miracle that he was able to drive to school without an accident.

With all things considered, it is, in fact, too damn cold on this November morning. In Jongdae’s opinion, the world shouldn’t even be allowed to get this cold until at least the middle of December. Hell, if things went to Jongdae’s preference, someone would just give him a lifetime paid vacation to Hawaii because he doesn’t think he can handle another New England winter.  
  
Jongdae is in the midst of figuring out exactly how to solve many problems in his life. His list of grievances extends further than the fact that he can’t get out of his car to go to school. He is also almost positive that he’s going to fail his Honors Chemistry test this Friday and he hasn't even started his column for this month's paper. His biggest problem out of the long list, however, is that Minseok Kim exists. In fact, Minseok Kim was currently existing outside of Jongdae’s car, tapping on his window and witnessing him in the midst of a meltdown, all the while sporting a perfectly concerned expression on his beautiful face.  
  
When Jongdae realizes that Minseok may or may not have been watching him bang his head on his steering wheel for the last two minutes, he freezes completely.  
  
The cold and Jongdae aren’t very friendly at all.  


 

 

 

 

  
  
“I didn’t even know car doors could freeze shut that badly.” Minseok shakes his arms to loosen up his shoulders. With a lot of effort by the both of them, they were finally able to pry Jongdae’s car door open and run to the newsroom. The building wide heater wasn’t on yet, but thankfully, newspaper staff pitched in to buy a space heater for themselves last year. With the number of hours their staff put in before and after school, they wouldn't be able to survive winters without it.  
  
“This car is special,” Jongdae laughs. “It’s been passed down through my family for at least the last 20 years.”  
  
“It does look a little beat up,” Minseok agrees, rubbing his hands together to generate warmth. His jacket is probably four layers thinner than Jongdae’s and he doesn’t understand how Minseok isn’t freezing his ass off at the moment.  
  
“How are you not dying right now?” Jongdae shivers. “I would need, like, ten of those jackets to be able to stay warm in this kind weather.”  
  
“I keep forgetting to swap my fall jacket for my winter one and I’m always in a hurry in the mornings,” Minseok sighs. “I should buy one like yours. It looks nice and toasty.”  
  
“According to Kyungsoo, it also makes me look like a lame duck.” Jongdae walks over to his desk and dumps his things on his chair. He powers up his computer, ready to get some work done. It was already November 18th, making him 3 days behind schedule on his column. If he keeps procrastinating like he has been, there was no way he would be able to get things done in time.  
  
“What are you doing here so early anyways?” Minseok asks.  
  
“Just finishing up some work on the column,” Jongdae explains, glossing over exactly how behind he was. “You?”  
  
“This week is going to be hellish so I need to get an early start on editorial stuff if I want to get everything done in time.”  
  
“What’s going on this week?” Jongdae pries.  
  
“Volunteering, college apps, volleyball, exams, etcetera etcetera,” Minseok drones. “You know the drill by now.”  
  
“I do.” Jongdae rolls his eyes. It wasn’t a surprise that Minseok was overcommitted. The boy works harder than anyone else Jongdae knows. It's part of the reason why Jongdae admires him so much. “Sadly.”  
  
“I know, I know.” Minseok lays out the contents of his backpack in organized piles on his desk. “I don’t need a lecture today Jongdae. Maybe next week though. I'm probably going to need one next week.”  
  
“Do I even want to know what you have going on next week?” Jongdae sighs.  
  
“I'm gonna take a leap of faith and guess no?”  
  
“You are hopeless. What am I going to do with you?” Jongdae shakes his head and takes a seat at his computer. He pulls up student questions for his advice column, Ask Chen, and starts sifting through them. It’s important that he picks questions that are different than last months while still being relevant and entertaining. The job was harder than it looked, mainly due to the fact that 99% of high school students have the same exact problems, and Jongdae was running out of new ways to write the same exact answers.  
  
A thought pops into his head as he’s scrolling.  
  
“Do you want me to take over some of your editor responsibilities?” Jongdae asks, looking over his shoulder to gauge Minseok’s reaction. “It would be temporary, of course. Just until you get your life together. As together as it can possibly be.”  
  
“I hate to take you up on that…”  
  
“It’s done,” Jongdae chuckles. “Sehun and I can hold down the fort until you’re done with college apps.”  
  
“There you go saving my life again, Jongdae,” Minseok jokes. “You should stop before I get used to it. I won’t have you around anymore next year.”  
  
Jongdae screams internally. In his opinion, it really isn’t him that needs to stop; it was Minseok that needed to stop being perfect at everything. Especially at making Jongdae fall for him.  


 

 

 

 

  
“Where’d everyone go?” Jongdae calls into the near empty kitchen classroom. The bell rings just as he sets his foot inside with a bagged lunch. Only Kyungsoo, Tao, Sehun, and Baekhyun are inside, leaving the kitchen a lot emptier than it normally was during lunch hour. On most days, their makeshift gang of friends normally fills the entire place up, much to Kyungsoo's disdain.  
  
“Luhan is tutoring some junior,” Sehun mumbles while chewing on a cookie.  
  
“Jongin and Xing are making out in a storage closet, probably,” Kyungsoo deadpans while mixing more cookie batter. Jongdae wonders how long it’ll take for the next batch to be done. He can already smell them baking in the oven and his mouth is watering.  
  
“Chanyeol is off being dumb somewhere,” Baekhyun frowns while shoving cookies into his face. He looks rather pitiful and Jongdae can immediately gather that something is wrong.  
  
“What’s wrong?” he asks tentatively, eyeing Sehun for answers.  
  
“Chanyeol is asking Irene to winter formal. As we speak,” Sehun explains, making everything clear. Jongdae glances at Baekhyun again and cringes. It was going to be hard to make Baekhyun feel better after that. Despite the fact that the boy denies it time and again, it was plain as day that Baekhyun was more than in love with his best friend.  
  
“Ahh.” Jongdae lamely nods, not wanting to dwell on the subject and make Baekhyun feel even worse.  
  
“Did you hear? Minseok and Sojin are going together,” Sehun mentions offhandedly. Jongdae sighs and takes a seat. He’s not surprised at all. The two of them have known each other since they were toddlers. Minseok had mentioned something about going with her earlier that week. From what Jongdae has gathered about the situation, it was a completely platonic date. For some reason that detail doesn’t make him feel much better.  
  
“I might be in the same group as them then,” Kyungsoo adds. “Minah and Sojin are best friends, right?”  
  
“You’re going with Minah?” Jongdae almost chokes on the pasta he brought for lunch. “I thought you were Amanda Seyfried-sexual or something.”  
  
“Jongdae, what the fuck.” Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. “I’m just a normal teenage boy with a slightly unhealthy celebrity crush.”  
  
“Slightly unhealthy, he says,” Baekhyun laughs. Jongdae internally lets out a sigh of relief. At least he was smiling. “You’re entire wall is covered with posters of her face. It’s creepy.”  
  
“Whatever,” Kyungsoo ignores him. “Tao, what about you?”  
  
“Junmyeon and Luna,” the foreign exchange student grins. “Pictures.”  
  
Jongdae has been around Tao enough in the last few months to be able to understand exactly what the boy means. The exchange student from China has improved leaps and bounds in his English skills since the beginning of the school year. Thanks to Junmyeon and Luna’s constant attention, he’s really flourished since coming here.  
  
“Junmyeon finally asked Luna out, huh?” Sehun wonders.  
  
“I’m pretty sure Luna was the one to ask, actually,” Baekhyun mentions, grabbing at the cookies on the fresh pan Kyungsoo just pulled out of the oven.  
  
“Classic Junmyeon,” Jongdae snickers.  
  
“Are you two doing anything on Winter Formal night?” Sehun asks Baekhyun and Jongdae.  
  
“Not at the moment, no,” Jongdae replies, curiously.  
  
“Luhan and I are too lazy to go to winter formal so we’re marathoning Dragon Ball Z at my house. You two should crash,” Sehun grins, getting excited.  
  
“You two are the lamest couple I’ve seen in a long time,” Baekhyun drawls. “But alas, I have nothing better to do. You can count me in.”  
  
“Same,” Jongdae echoes. “But seriously, you two need to get out more. Y’all are in danger of becoming hermits.”  
  
“We’re talking about Luhan here,” Sehun sighs. “The boy literally keeps snacks in his nightstand drawer so he doesn’t have to get out of bed when he’s hungry.”  
  
“I’m so sorry,” Jongdae sympathizes.  
  
Sehun sighs yet again.  
  
“I am too.”  


 

 

 

 

  
_Dear Chen,  
  
There’s this boy in my English class that keeps making derogatory comments about the female characters in the literature that we’re studying. It’s getting on my nerves, and this person never listens to the teacher’s reprimanding either. How can I make it stop?  
  
Thanks._  
  
Jongdae grins as he cracks his knuckles, ready to type out the perfect response to the question.  
  
“As much as I wish it were fair for you to be able to kick him in the balls, doing so would probably get you suspended for violence. Instead, I would recommend leaving him passive aggressive notes that emasculate him, because that’s the thing that misogynistic little fuckers like him fear the most.” Jongdae mumbles to himself as he taps away at his keyboard. He’s always had the habit of voicing his thoughts as he’s writing them down, and it tends to earn him some odd looks now and then. Thankfully, most of the time he finds himself alone in the newsroom, away from judging ears.  
  
Most of the time.  
  
“I sure do hope you censor that before you send it off to the printer, Mr. Editor,” Minseok hums from the doorway. He’s sporting a sly smile on his face, leaning against the door frame with a practiced confidence.  
  
“Aren’t you supposed to be at volleyball practice?” Jongdae swivels around in his chair to face the door.  
  
“Canceled because of winter formal set up.” Minseok walks over to his desk to check over Jongdae’s editorial work. “I didn’t account for that when I made my schedule this week, so I have time to kill. I need to check over the paper anyways. You have everything done except your column, right?”  
  
“Yup,” Jongdae pipes from his desk. “I’m almost done with that too. I just have to censor.”  
  
He turns back to his computer and finishes looking over his work, making tiny edits here and there. When he’s done, he adds in his column to the editorial program and walks over to Minseok’s desk to go over the final product.  
  
“What do you think?” Jongdae is eager to find out. He’s been pretty active with editorial work since the beginning of this year, but this is the first time he’s taken on this much responsibility for an issue. Seohyun was busy with SAT prep and Sehun had a math test to study for, so most of the work for fell on his shoulders.  
  
“This is good work, Jongdae,” Minseok approves. “It all looks good to me. You can send it off if you’re satisfied.”  
  
“You want  _me_  to?” Jongdae’s eyes widen.  
  
“You did all the work,” Minseok smiles, eyes twinkling. Jongdae nods and writes a note to himself to remember to make the finishing touches and send it off by Monday evening.  
  
“So, are you thinking about going into journalism like Sehun is?” Minseok asks, flopping into his chair. “You certainly have a knack for it.”  
  
“No, actually, I’m thinking of doing something else,” Jongdae responds ambiguously.  
  
“Very specific.”  
  
“It’s a secret,” Jongdae chuckles.  
  
“At least you know,” Minseok sighs. “I wish I had an idea.”  
  
“You’re good at everything though,” Jongdae shrugs. “All you’d have to do is pick something you enjoy.”  
  
“That’s the problem though. I don’t know what that thing is.” Minseok slumps into his chair. “The saddest thing is that I don’t even have time to think about it.”  
  
“Maybe that’s where you should start then,” Jongdae suggests. “Stop trying to be in 500 different places at same time.  
  
“Just sit back and think about yourself for once.”  


 

 

 

 

  
  
“I hope Chanyeol is having the worst time of his life,” Baekhyun mumbles around a particularly large spoonful of Ben & Jerry’s. Jongdae grabs a napkin and wipes at his mouth to get rid of some of the chocolate.  
  
“You disgust me,” he cringes as he mops at the older boy’s face.  
  
“It’s okay, Baek, he’ll come around one of these days,” Luhan encourages, stuffing his face with handfuls of chips, leaving crumbs scattered all over the carpet. “The boy will understand what he’s missing.”  
  
“Sehun, why the fuck are you dating that thing?” Jongdae scrunches his nose.  
  
“And to think I spent two entire months pining for him.” Sehun shakes his head sorrowfully.  
  
Luhan either ignores Sehun’s words, or doesn’t even realize that they were said in the first place.  
  
The doorbell rings, and Luhan cheers, jumping up at full speed. “Fuck yeah, the pizza’s here.”  
  
“I just ordered it five minutes ago.” Baekhyun furrows his eyebrows in confusion.  
  
“Aww, you’re not pizza,” Luhan complains when he sees whoever is standing at Sehun’s door.  
  
“Sorry to disappoint.” Jongdae hears Minseok’s voice from the door followed by Chanyeol’s boisterous laughter.  
  
The three of them walk into the family room and make themselves comfortable. Minseok is dressed in a baby blue dress shirt with his suit jacket slung over his arm. His shirt is unbuttoned and slightly unkempt, making him look even more attractive than Jongdae is used to seeing him.  
  
“The formal was boring,” Chanyeol complains, snuggling up next to Baekhyun. “So we’re crashing.”  
  
“What else did you expect out of an event organized by Junmyeon?” Baekhyun scoffs in return.  
  
“That, right there, is a really good question,” Minseok sighs. “Someone needs to teach the guy how to have a little fun.”  
  
“Hear hear,” Jongdae calls, raising his glass of Sprite. Junmyeon has been an old man trapped in a teenager's body ever since Jongdae had first met him in his freshman year. As lovable as he is, the fact that he plans all of the Student Council events made for rather bland school dances.  
  
“You guys haven’t started yet?” Chanyeol asks. He was practically lying on top of Baekhyun by now. Unsurprisingly, the smaller boy looked ten times happier than he did before Chanyeol arrived. It was as if his anger had completely evaporated.  
  
“We were waiting for the pizza,” Luhan frowns.  
  
As if on cue, the doorbell rings for the second time that night and Luhan springs up to collect his precious pizza.  
  
“Did Luhan convince you guys to order a pizza for each of you?” Minseok chuckles at the sight of his best friend hauling in four boxes of large pizzas.  
  
“Apparently, it was essential that we had an assortment of flavors.” Jongdae rolls his eyes, getting up to grab a few slices.  
  
By the time they actually start their much awaited marathon, it’s already 10:00 pm and Jongdae is feeling the exhaustion of the week get to him. Before he can stop himself, his eyes are closing and his head is rolling.  
  
Minseok’s shoulder makes a pretty great pillow, if Jongdae must say so himself.  


 

 

 

 

  
The sunlight burns Jongdae’s eyes as he squints them open the next day. Jongdae really needs to advise Sehun to invest in some window drapes because the giant windows in his family room just shaved off at least three hours from Jongdae’s sleep.  
  
“Morning.” Jongdae hears Minseok’s voice as he forces himself to pry his eyes open. When he successfully opens them, he realizes that he is curled around the older boy like a koala and flinches violently. Quickly letting Minseok free, he starts mumbling profuse apologies that Minseok just waves off.  
  
“It’s okay,” Minseok laughs. “You were so peaceful when I woke up that I couldn’t bear to wake you up too.”  
  
“How long was I suffocating you?” Jongdae stretches out, pretending to be unaffected.  
  
“Potentially since episode 23 last night?”  
  
Jongdae groans in embarrassment.  
  
“Don’t apologize, I could have shoved you off if I wanted to.”  
  
_So he didn’t want to_ , Jongdae thinks to himself. A small bubble of hope threatens to grow inside of him, but he pushes it down. Instead, he gets up and walks over to the kitchen, inventorying for potential breakfast ingredients in Sehun’s pantry.  
  
He comes up with nothing.  
  
“How can you not even have eggs?” Jongdae shovels through Sehun’s fridge with a purpose, still unable to find anything substantial to make breakfast with.  
  
“Maybe it’s grocery day,” Minseok shrugs. “When do you think the rest of them are going to get up?”  
  
Jongdae glances over at the pile of sleeping bodies in the family room. Half of them were still snoring.  
  
“At least another hour. Most probably more.”  
  
“Wanna go to IHOP?” Minseok suggest on a whim. “We can order way too many pancakes and get so full that we can’t move.”  
  
Jongdae tosses the idea around in his head for a moment. The “completely in love with Minseok” side of his brain thinks about how this is probably going to feel like a date. Before he can convince himself that it’s a bad idea, he swallows down his doubts and agrees.  
  
“Fuck yeah, lets do it.”  


 

 

 

 

  
  
It’s been awhile since Jongdae has had a day to himself. Group projects, studying, newspaper work, and choir events had taken up most of his time since school had started. Things were worse because Baekhyun was being even more intense about the vocal trio that they had formed with Kyungsoo. He kept insisting that the three of them practice at any opportunity, leaving Jongdae with absolutely no time alone.

For once, he had no exams coming up and the paper was all set to be submitted on Monday. Kyungsoo was in the city for the day for a cooking competition, so thankfully Baekhyun couldn’t drag him off to practice the piece that they were going to perform for the winter talent show.  
  
Jongdae decided that he was going to make use of his rare day off by playing FIFA 15’. He recently bought it after saving up from his summer job and hadn't had the chance to play it yet, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity.  
  
After setting up a significant supply of snacks and drinks, Jongdae pulls out his controller and presses play just as the doorbell rings. He groans in frustration and drags himself to the door, hoping that it wasn’t Baekhyun looking to squeeze in some extra rehearsal time.  
  
Jongdae pulls the door open with a frown on his face. His jaw drops when he sees the person standing on his porch.  
  
“Well, you sure seem happy to see me.” Minseok flashes a brilliant smile at Jongdae.  
  
“What are you doing here?”  
  
“I was bored and everyone I know is either making out with someone or trying to get someone to make out with them,” Minseok shrugs. “So I thought I’d see what you’re up to. Wanna hang out?”  
  
“Am I the only one you know who doesn’t have a life?” Jongdae steps aside and holds the door open wider to let Minseok in. “Welcome to my humble abode.”  
  
“You’re the only one besides me who doesn’t, my friend,” Minseok sighs. “Did you have plans today? I don’t want to intrude.”  
  
“If you count playing FIFA 15’ and eating chips all day plans, the yes. I have very important plans.”  
  
“I like the way you think, Jongdae.” The corners of Minseok’s mouth turn up a little more. “Get ready to be destroyed.”  
  
“Oh, you might be better at me on the field, but  _no one_  beats me at FIFA,” Jongdae challenges.  
  
“You’re on.”  


 

 

 

 

  
“I guess I just don’t understand why he keeps touching me?” Jongdae shares, sipping on his Chai Latte in deep thought. Luhan nods his head exaggeratedly with his mouth hanging open. He looks oh so very dumb.  
  
“Luhan, close your mouth. You look like a dead fish,” Sehun chides. Sometimes Jongdae wonders how it’s even possible that Luhan is four years older than his boyfriend. Sehun looked and acted much older than Luhan was probably even capable of.  
  
“Why is he even here?” Jongdae complains. “Why is he always around? I’m starting to get sick of him.”  
  
“Excuse me, I’m right here.” Luhan waves his hand in between Jongdae and Sehun, but fails to get their attention. “I’m also Minseok’s best friend, so I’m your best bet when it comes to things like this.”  
  
“Is that supposed to reassure me?” Jongdae frowns at Luhan. “You being my best bet isn’t reassuring in the slightest.”  
  
“So exactly what is the situation?” Luhan asks.  
  
“We hang out a lot more now. At school and each other’s houses and stuff. It’s all friendly and stuff but,” Jongdae sighs. “I don’t know there’s just something there. Maybe I’m imagining it.”  
  
“More than the touching,” Sehun contemplates, tilting his head. He starts tapping his fingers on the table and a frown appears on his face.  
  
“Just the touching itself is a red flag,” Luhan notes with his brows furrowed. Jongdae doesn’t know how exactly how he feels about the couple treating his love life like an NCIS mystery, but uncomfortable would be a good place to start.  
  
“Can you guys stop doing that? It’s really fucking weird.” Jongdae grumbles at them.  
  
“Minseok isn’t a toucher, you see. He doesn’t even touch me.” Luhan strokes his chin.  
  
“Why would anyone want to touch you?” Jongdae looks disgusted.  
  
“Him touching you can only mean one thing,” Luhan continues, ignoring Jongdae’s comment.  
  
“And what’s that?” Sehun looks even more confused. He obviously doesn’t know where Luhan is going with this.  
  
“He wants to fuck.”  
  
“Yup, and that would be my cue to leave,” Jongdae starts to get up but Luhan laughs and pulls him back down by the arm.  
  
“All jokes aside, I think he’s more than liked you for a while now,” Luhan says with a genuine smile. “You’re the definition of what Minseok needs in his life. Nobody has ever been able to ground him like you do.”  
  
“There’s something about you guys when you’re together,” Sehun adds. “I saw it on The Day of Sad.”  
  
Jongdae smiles at Sehun’s word choice. The freshman has always found interesting ways to refer to the day he confessed to Luhan, or in his opinion, the worst day of his life.  
  
“The soccer game?” Jongdae asks, confused. “I thought you left early.”  
  
“Not before I saw you too staring into each other’s eyes with admiration,” Sehun chuckles.  
  
“Yeah, you guys don’t realize it, but you do that a lot,” Luhan mentions.  
  
“Why did nobody choose to tell me any of this?” Jongdae directs the question mostly to Sehun. In all of the conversations they’ve had about Minseok since that day, it should have come up at least once or twice.  
  
“I figured that I should just let you figure it out yourself,” Sehun shrugs. “You wouldn’t have believed me anyways.  
  
Sehun  _is_  right about that.  
  
“So what should I do now?”  
  
“Kiss him senseless,” Luhan suggests. “The boy is just as slow as I am. He’s not going to take it further until you force him to.”  
  
“That sounds like terrible advice.” Jongdae is skeptical of anything coming out of Luhan’s mouth.  
  
“It worked for me!” Sehun exclaims.  
  
“You two are the opposite of what I hope to become when I’m in a relationship,” Jongdae deadpans.  
  
“With that kind of attitude, you won’t even be able to get into a relationship in the first place,” Luhan singsongs.  
  
“I hate you.”  


 

 

 

 

 

  
“Looks like we’re back to normal,” Jongdae smiles as he enters the kitchen classroom for lunch. It was bustling with their entire gang of friends fighting over the pasta that Kyungsoo probably cooked in class last period.  
  
“Hey, how’d your chem test go?” Minseok walks over to him from where he was talking to Yixing and takes a seat.  
  
“Terribly.” Jongdae scrunches his face in frustration, making Minseok laugh. “I’m pretty sure I failed it.”  
  
“You said the same thing about your last test and you ended up with an A.” Sehun joins them, dragging a chair to their table and pulling out his lunch.  
  
“Yeah, you’ll be fine” Minseok nudges him lightly with his shoulder. The older boy is sitting extremely close to him and it’s making breathing a difficult task.  
  
As lunch goes on, they all end up pushing three tables together and gathering around. It’s a feast of homemade lunches featuring some of Kyungsoo’s delicious fresh food. Jongdae is glad they have Kyungsoo around for that reason. Without him they wouldn't have known the kitchens even existed. Eating lunch in the cafeteria was something that everyone tried to avoid as much as possible, and the kitchen gave them the perfect place to do just that.  
  
“I want to make all of this for the holiday season,” Kyungsoo excitedly shares as he shows Jongdae and Sehun a list of all the winter related foods he was planning to cook this season.  
  
“Damn, make sure you invite me over.” Jongdae’s mouth waters at the just the sight of the list. “We should have a holiday party and you can make all of this food for it.”  
  
“That’s actually a really good idea,” Sehun agrees. “We could invite all our friends and play holiday games. We could watch Christmas movies too! It would be fun.”  
  
“I like that idea,” Yixing chimes. “I wouldn’t mind contributing decorations.”  
  
“I’m in too,” Kris agrees. “I’ll bring the paper plates.”  
  
“Cheap ass,” Baekhyun teases. “I’ll help Kyungsoo with the food.”  
  
The rest of the people at the table continue to call out their contributions and Jongdae is taken aback. He wasn’t exactly being serious when he suggested the idea, but it would definitely be fun.  
  
“Where would we have it though?” Jongdae asks innocently. The entire table looks at him intently. Jongdae sighs. “I guess I can contribute the location?”  
  
Everyone cheers and resumes their planning. Jongdae feels a sense of dread at the idea of hosting such a big event. The guest list is going to grow to a monstrous size if everyone invites all of their friends.  
  
“We could do it the day of the winter talent show as a celebration,” Luhan suggests. “Most of us are going to be in it.”  
  
“You’re going to be in the talent show?” Jongin questions. “What are you going to do, dribble your signed Messi soccer ball?”  
  
“I’ll actually be singing, thank you very much,” Luhan quips with a proud smile on his face.  
  
“I’m singing with him! I’m playing the guitar too,” Chanyeol adds excitedly.  
  
“How can you be so talented, yet so dumb?” Jongdae wonders aloud, staring at Luhan in awe. If he didn’t know Luhan personally, Jongdae would have probably thought that the soccer player was the coolest person ever. There wasn’t much the boy wasn't capable of doing.  
  
“We should make a guest list!” Baekhyun exclaims, bouncing in his seat.  
  
“The dance team of course,” Jongin and Yixing chime in unison.  
  
“The rest of the paper, I guess?” Jongdae shrugs.  
  
“Can we invite some of the guys on the soccer team? They know all the dance kids and most of the paper kids,” Luhan asks.  
  
“Like, Jackson, Mark, Hyuk and all of them?” Sehun clarifies.  
  
“Yeah and what about Minah, Sojin and their other friends?” Kyungsoo adds to the list.  
  
“Oh, and Irene and Joy. But if we invite them that means we have to invite Jessica, Tiffany and all them too,” Chanyeol says.  
  
“Aren’t Jessica and Taeyeon fighting?” Baekhyun frowns. “What are we going to do about that?”  
  
“Invite them anyways, they’ll get over it.”  
  
“Oh, what about Himchan and Yongguk? Joonmyun will want to invite them.”  
  
“If we invite them we have to invite Daehyun and Youngjae too.”  
  
“Wait what about Hakyeon then? And Jinyoung? The other Youngjae too.”  
  
“And the other Jinyoung.”  
  
“Wait, which Jinyoung are you talking about?”  
  
Jongdae doesn’t even know who’s saying what anymore. All he can think about is how this holiday party was slowly getting very out of hand. He checks out of the conversation and sighs to himself.  
  
“Don’t worry, I’ll help you out,” Minseok whispers from next to him. Jongdae hadn’t realized that the older boy wasn’t contributing to the conversation.  
  
“You have no life. How are you going to help me?” Jongdae chuckles.  
  
“I followed your advice. I’m making time to figure my life out like you told me to. College apps are done and volleyball season is ending, so I have a lot more time on my hands. I’m just going to rest instead of starting all my usual winter activities.” Minseok gives Jongdae a bright smile. “Are you proud of me?”  
  
“Very,” Jongdae genuinely says. He really is proud of Minseok. It must have been a hard decision to make.  
  
“Well, have you had any luck with deciding on your future with all this new free time?” Jongdae continues.  
  
“I might have an idea,” Minseok hints.  
  
“And?”  
  
“It’s a secret.” Minseok smiles slyly, handing Jongdae’s words from a few weeks ago right back to him.  
  
“Goddamnit.”  


 

 

 

 

  
  
Jongdae let's out a sigh of relief as he types out the last word of his Honors English paper. After three hours of churning out detailed analysis about a book he didn't read, he was feeling mentally and physically exhausted. Thinking that it wouldn't take very long, he decided to stay at school and work on it in the newsroom. He checks his watch and realizes that it's already 5:30 pm.  
  
He really should leave and go home, but an idea pops into his head. Instead of going to his car, he heads over to the music wing of their school. The choir teacher gave each of the members of the prestigious vocal trio a key to the practice rooms so he's found himself taking advantage of it more often. Baekhyun, Kyungsoo and him have been spending a lot of time there during after hours to practice. Having access has definitely come in handy.  
  
Jongdae takes a seat at the piano bench and warms his hands up with a few scales. After a few minutes, he pulls out sheet music for a few songs he's been practicing lately and starts singing.  
  
Jongdae knows that he's a talented singer. He's been told that enough times throughout his life. In the past few years, he's always been top pick for musical roles and choir solos.  
  
He used to practice a lot more, but ever since his other extra-curricular activities started picking up, he just hasn't had the time.  
  
Singing has always been Jongdae passion. It used to come before everything else in his life, but recently, Jongdae has been pushing it off to the side. A part of it probably has to do with confidence. The secret he kept from Minseok the other day was that he would give anything to be able to sing everyday for the rest of his life, but he lacks the confidence to chase that dream. He knows he's talented but just having talent isn't enough. Jongdae doesn't really know if he has any thing else to offer.  
  
Instead of thinking about it, Jongdae has been distracting himself with other things, but he knows he can't avoid it for much longer. He's going to need to start seriously considering exactly what path he wants to chose in the future, and more importantly if music is even going to be a part of it.  
  
After 45 minutes of practice, Jongdae decides that it's time to head home. His parents are going to start worrying about him if he doesn't leave soon.  
  
Jongdae walks out of the room, making sure to turn off the lights and lock the door shut behind him. As he turns around he almost trips over something. When he looks down he sees a leg covered in fitted jeans in his way. His eyes shift up to reveal Minseok. The older boy has made a makeshift nest in front of the practice room door, complete with a backpack pillow and winter coat blanket.  
  
"Hi. You're done already? I was enjoying listening," Minseok mumbles sleepily. He blinks the tiredness out of his eyes and stands up.  
  
"What are you doing here?" Jongdae furrows his brows in confusion.  
  
"I saw you walking here after I finished volleyball practice and I thought I'd say hi, but you went inside before I could catch you. I was going to leave but your voice was so pretty."  
  
Jongdae laughs in response, still a bit taken aback. He hasn't shared this part of him with anyone else before, and it's an odd feeling to be discovered.  
  
"Let's get out of here." Jongdae nudges Minseok and starts walking toward the front of the school.  
  
"So," Minseok has a slight smile on his face. "I think I've figured out your secret."  
  
"Oh yeah?"  
  
"Singing, huh? I should've known," Minseok chuckles a bit. "You always look happiest when you're singing."  
  
"I do?" Jongdae had never been told that before. "How do you know what my happiest looks like?"  
  
"Because I pay attention to it," Minseok plays along. "You're pretty easy on the eyes so it's kind of hard not to."  
  
Jongdae can't formulate a response to that so he just stays silent. They're finally outside and waking to the student lot when all of a sudden Jongdae remembers Luhan's advice.  
  
For some reason he can't stop thinking about it and before he's able to process what he's doing he quickly presses his lips to Minseok's. It's over before he even realizes what he's done and his jaw drops wide open when it sinks in.  
  
"I'm sorry." Jongdae panics. Both of them have stopped walking in the middle of the near empty parking lot. Jongdae doesn't know what to do next.  
  
"No." Minseok's eyes widen. "Why are you sorry? Don't be sorry."  
  
"Okay?"  
  
Minseok stares at him for a second and Jongdae stays frozen in place.  
  
"Um, I'm not really sure-" Jongdae begins to try to explain himself but gets cut off by Minseok's lips on his. This kiss is a lot less innocent than the first one and Jongdae can't can't get enough.  
  
In only a few seconds, they have their arms wrapped around each other and tongues in each other's mouths. It make sense, with all of the pent up sexual tension that's been suppressed between them for who knows how long.  
  
By the time the finally break apart, they're both out of breath. Jongdae is burning up despite the cold and his winter jacket feels heavy on him.  
  
"So why'd you do it?" Minseok asks casually as if they weren't making our seconds ago. Jongdae is internally freaking out and he has no idea how Minseok is so calm right now.  
  
"Luhan said it would work? We've been in a weird limbo for weeks now," Jongdae shrugs.  
  
"This is probably the only time I'll ever admit this but," Minseok grins. "For once, Luhan was right about something."  


 

 

 

 

 

  
“Going to the movies is such a generic first date,” Minseok frowns.  
  
“We’re a pair of high schoolers. Where do you want me to take you, a five-star restaurant?” Jongdae raises his eyebrows as the two of them enter their local movie theater. A slight pout appears on his face.  
  
They decided that they should probably go on a date before things got more serious. At this point it just felt like a formality, but Jongdae was insistent on it. Maybe there was a part of him that feared that they would turn into Sehun and Luhan. The two of them never left the house and it was quite sad to watch them slowly turn into lazy sloths.  
  
“I’m sorry,” Minseok backtracks. “I’m very happy that we’re going to the movies together.”  
  
“You better fucking be,” Jongdae playfully pouts back.  
  
They buy tickets for the newest action thriller and when they walk into the theater, it’s nearly empty. It was probably because the movie was pretty old, but Jongdae is pleased none the less. A little privacy was always welcome.  
  
“So, have you been going to the practice rooms more now?” Minseok asks causally. Jongdae knows better though. The other day Minseok managed to get the younger boy to spill all his doubts about seriously pursuing music in the future. Somehow, Minseok also managed to talk Jongdae out of every single one of them. Lately, he’s been feeling more confident about himself and his dream. It feels pretty damn good.  
  
“I have, actually.”  
  
“I told you to text me when you do,” Minseok whines. “I want to listen too.”  
  
“I don’t want to practice knowing that you’re lurking outside.” Jongdae rolls his eyes. “I’ll show you my talent show performance when it’s ready.  
  
  
He decided that he would enter into the talent show as a solo act as well. At first, he was apprehensive about telling the rest of the vocal trio his plans, but thankfully they were ecstatic for him. The three of them were performing together on stage before his solo act, so he was happy that he would have support in case he breaks down in nervousness.  
  
“What about you?” Jongdae flips the question back to Minseok. “You still haven’t told me your secret life plan.”  
  
“I’ll tell you when it’s more set in stone. I still have a few things I need to figure out,” Minseok explains apologetically.  
  
“You’re making it sound so suspicious,” Jongdae sighs. “As long as you’re not going into drug dealing, I guess it’s okay. Take your time.”  
  
Minseok mentioned that he was going to have to discuss his plans with his family before he makes a true decision. From the looks of it, however, Jongdae is pretty sure that whatever Minseok is planning is going to end up becoming reality. His boyfriend seemed more at ease and excited than Jongdae has ever seen him before, and it’s refreshing to see. Jongdae is happy for him.  
  
“Don’t worry, you’ll be the first person I tell,” Minseok laughs. “You’re the first person I tell most things.”  
  
“Really?”  
  
“I’m not really that expressive. Luhan probably told you, but I don’t really talk to anybody about my life. Except you, of course. I’ve been spilling my guts to you for at least a year now. It’s the reason why I started to like you so much. It’s been at least a half a year since I figured it out.”  
  
“ _A half a year_?” Jongdae awes. He had absolutely no idea.  
  
“Wait, what about you then?” Minseok tilts his head in curiosity.  
  
“Maybe, like, a year?” he shrugs. Minseok absentmindedly plays with Jongdae’s fingers.  
  
“Wow. We are dumb,” Minseok chuckles. “I had absolutely no idea.”  
  
Jongdae leans his head on Minseok’s shoulder and smiles.  
  
“Better late than never.”  


 

 

 

 

  
  
“Yixing, those are supposed to go on the other wall,” Jongdae yells across his kitchen.  
  
“They look nice on this wall though.” Yixing is standing on a chair putting up twinkling Christmas lights up on the walls.  
  
“I SAID TO PUT THEM ON THE OTHER FUCKING WALL.”  
  
“Holy hell, okay.” Yixing scrambles down and starts doing as he’s told.  
  
“Shh, calm down Jongdae.” Minseok comes up behind him and starts massaging the tension out of his shoulders.  
  
“Being calm is hard when there’s going to be 60 people here in 30 minutes and nothing is ready,” Jongdae whines, leaning back into the touch. It’s just what he needs to chill off a little bit before he goes back to setting up.  
  
Jongdae’s house looks amazing with all the decorations. They’ve all been systematically setting things up throughout the week, but it’s finally pulling together now. Even though all of their friends were frantically running around his house trying to get things together, he’s happy that they’re all here to help. He definitely wouldn’t have been able to do it on his own.  
  
“Kyungsoo is asking if he’s allowed to use the porcelain bowls in the left cabinet for something,” Sehun calls from the doorway. Jongdae turns towards him.  
  
“That’s fine as long as nobody else is touching it. He’s the only person I trust,” Jongdae sighs and gets back to work on the cheese platter he was organizing. Minseok begins helping him with it and they get it done in no time at all.  
  
By the time Taemin rings the doorbell right at 9:00 pm on the dot, everything is ready to go. From then on things go smoothly. Despite the fact that Jongdae was the official host, he doesn’t have to do too much because everyone was pitching in and cleaning up after themselves.  
  
Jongdae eventually crashes onto the couch with Minseok at his side watching the night unfold in front of him. He’s dead tired from the last couple weeks, with intense talent show preparation, final exams and the party, but seeing everyone enjoying themselves like this makes it all worth it.  
  
Baekhyun and Chanyeol are playing monopoly with a few other people in choir as Jongin and Yixing are challenging Sehun and Luhan to a game of Egg Nog Pong. From the corner of his eye, Jongdae sees Kris trying to drag Amber under the mistletoe, only end up getting punched in the gut. Meanwhile, Tao is flitting around capturing all the action in the moment with Joonmyun and Sunyoung next to him.  
  
“This is nice,” Jongdae smiles, snuggling into Minseok’s chest. “We should do this more often, except not at my house. Too much work.”  
  
“I’m sure one of the others wouldn’t mind assuming host responsibilities next time,” Minseok shrugs.  
  
“They’re already getting excited for Valentines Day so who knows what we’re going to end up planning for that.”  
  
They sit in a comfortable silence for a bit before Minseok realizes something.  
  
“I never talked to you after your solo,” Minseok frowns.  
  
“You’re talking to me right now,” Jongdae smiles slightly. He had thought about it for a short while after the talent show was over, but with all of the last minute organizing for the party, Jongdae had forgotten about it completely. “Honestly, we were so busy that I didn’t even realize.”  
  
“Well, I still want to tell you that you were amazing.” Minseok wraps his arms around Jongdae and squeezes. “Beyond amazing. I was blown away and so was everyone else in the audience.”  
  
“I’m blushing,” Jongdae jokes, even though he isn’t completely lying. He could feel his cheeks getting warm due to the steady stream of compliments.  
  
“Don’t forget me when you’re famous,” Minseok plays along.  
  
“I could never. I promise” Jongdae is being serious because it’s true. There’s no way that he would be able to forget the older boy, especially since he was planning on keeping Minseok around forever. “But I’ll hold you to the same promise.”  
  
“I don’t think I’ll be getting very famous,” Minseok confesses. “Veterinarians don’t tend to be famous. Unless they’re dating popular singers, of course.”  
  
Jongdae is taken aback at how casually Minseok tells him his secret life plan. He’s been trying to wheedle it out of the senior for a few weeks now, but of course the boy would spill everything at a time when Jongdae was least expecting it.  
  
“Well, that was sudden.” Jongdae thinks about it for a moment. “That somehow suits you more perfectly than anything else I can think of.”  
  
“When you told me to cut down on commitments so I could figure out my life, it actually made the entire process completely simple. One of the only things that I wasn’t willing to let go of at all was volunteering.”  
  
Minseok had been volunteering at the local animal shelter since he was in middle school. Whenever he would talk about it, Jongdae could sense the passion that Minseok had for animals. Telling stories about his experiences at the shelter made him light up completely, and Jongdae loved seeing him like that.  
  
“You were going to abandon me at the paper?” Jongdae pouts playfully.  
  
“That’s the only other thing I wasn’t willing to let go of.”  
  
“What do you mean?” Jongdae has a feeling he already knows the answer.  
  
“It's you,” Minseok pulls Jongdae even closer. “I don’t want to let go of you.”  
  
“Well, good thing you don’t have to. I’m going to be stuck to you forever,” Jongdae warns.  
  
“That sounds perfect.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Please comment and share if you liked it! <3


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